Lock out Tag out Steps | What is LOTO Procedure and Why it is Essential?

Want to know what is lock out Tag out Steps? and why it is essential in industries to protect workers from hazardous energy? In this guide, we will learn what are the Lockout Tagout procedures.

In manufacturing industries, different types of machines and equipment are used in the manufacturing process, which helps to do the work fast, safely, and efficiently.

All machines require maintenance, either during breakdown or as preventive maintenance. Before handing over to the maintenance department, a safety work permit system needs to be followed, as risks and hazards associated with the equipment can harm humans while performing maintenance work.

In industries, various types of permits are used to create a safe working atmosphere, such as confined space entry, hot work permits, general work permits, electrical isolation permits, etc.

Among those, electrical isolation permits are used to isolate equipment or de-energize the machine or area if maintenance work of the machine or in the area needs to be conducted.

To avoid the risk, a safety permit system is followed, and if the equipment uses an energy source, electrical isolation is necessary. Energy isolation or control of hazardous energy helps to prevent harm due to unexpected energization of the equipment, especially when the person performing maintenance tasks and duties is. To have a proper energy isolation process, LOTO safety, which is also referred to as the lockout tagout procedure, is used.

In this guide, we will learn what is LOTO safety procedure, the steps of Lockout Tagout procedure and the purpose of electrical isolation. So, without wasting more time, let’s dive into the guide.

What is LOTO Procedure

What is LOTO? : LOTO stands for Lockout Tagout and it is a procedure that is designed to protect employe while performing maintenance of equipment by unexpected re-energization or release of energy while performing maintenance work of the equipment or machine.

LOTO is a written step of procedure and an administrative tool that safely isolates equipment from the source of energy by using a feeder or MCC breaker. It is also tagged with an affix so the equipment does not get re-energized by mistake.

Note – In LOTO procedures, isolation of energy is considered by using a circuit breaker, and emergency switches are not included in procedure for energy isolation.

Six Steps of LOTO Safety Lock out Tag out Steps

LOTO i.e. lockout tagout safety procedure include six steps which are listed below. let us move to the steps of loto and learn each steps in detiails.

1. Preparation of shutdown
2. Shutdown of the equipment
3. Isolation of energy
4. Lockout/tagout
5. Stored energy check
6. Isolation verification and de-energization of the machine
7. Restoration

1. Preparation of shutdown – (Lock out Tag out Steps)

This is the first step of LOTO, where the production and maintenance departments discuss the work that needs to be done. It is important to identify the risk involved with hazardous energy in the task that needs to be conducted, hence the preparation steps, along with the steps required to control the hazard. In this phase, the production department prepares the permit.

2. Shutdown of equipment

The shutdown phase includes executing the preparation step. In this step, the subjected equipment or machine is shut down or stopped, and all the employees working in the section are informed about the equipment that needs to be serviced.

3. Isolation

After the shutdown step, the next step is isolation in which the Lockout/Tagout procedure is executed, and the machine and equipment in which maintenance or preventive maintenance work needs to be taken are being isolated from the energy source. The emergency stop button of the equipment is not considered for isolation of energy; it should be used, but as an extra layer of safety, equipment needs to be shut through the MCC breaker or by a fuse.

4. Lockout Tagout

These are the important steps of the lockout and tagout safety procedure. Now the subjected equipment and machine is isolated from the energy source,  lock out and tag out machine in the next step. In this step, the authorized persons affix lockout and/or tagout devices to each energy-isolating device. This ensures that no other person can re-energize the equipment until the work is completed.

Here, a Padlock is applied to the energy-isolating device, where the electrical, maintenance, production, and safety departments apply the lock. The key is to be with the authorized person only. Until the work is completed and all the locks are unlocked, equipment can’t be re-energized.

If the equipment can’t be locked out, it needs to be tagged out, which includes the name of the authorized person who performs the tagout procedure. Not only the source of energy should be tagged, but a Do not operate, do not start, or do not open tag should be applied to the equipment to raise awareness that it is under maintenance.

5. Stored energy check

In the isolation step, we had isolated the equipment from the energy source. Although the equipment disconnected, there is still a chance that some energy is there in the form of stored energy. Stored energy is also known as residual energy, which is there in the form of static energy, air pressure, and chemical gas. Hence, to avoid accidents from the potentially hazardous stored or residual energy, it should be relieved; equipment needs to be degassed or depressurized to make it non-hazardous.

6. Isolation verification

No work is considers completed until it is verified and the isolation verification steps are all about checking verification. In this step, the concern authorized person from production, as well as the maintenance person, verify that the equipment is perfectly isolated from the energy source through the MCC circuit breaker.

7. Restoration

This is the last step in which when the work is completed and the maintenance department hand over the equipment, the completion of work is being verified by the production department. After verifying, an authorized person from the maintenance department makes sure is all the tools are removed, equipment is clean, temporary grounding is removed and equipment guarding is installed. Shift in-charge of the production department takes the handover of equipment and check from the equipment and then proceeds for the re-energizing of the equipment/machine.

What is LOTOTO?

As technology and safety procedure are upgrading, LOTO procedures also got updated and become LOTOTO. This LOTOTO stands for Lockout Tagout Tryout. This try-out is an additional layer of safety for the working personnel in which after lockout and tagout, verification is done.

What are the OSHA requirements for lockout tagout Procedure?

• All the people working in the area and their operating person need to be aware of the work that needs to be conducted.
• Do not start or open; such type of tag is to be applied at the Energy source, i.e. switch.
• The maintenance person should ensure that the push emergency button is activated prior to starting work.
• An unauthorized person should not be allowed in the area where the work is being conducted to avoid any miss-operation

LockOut TagOut Safety Tips

1. All the written steps to be followed without skipping it.
2. The person who applies lock and tag should only remove it as per the procedure.
3. All the personnel involved in the LOTO steps should be trained and should have completed the lockout Tagout training module.
4. Don’t neglect any equipment or exclude from LOTO i.e. energy isolation procedure.
5. Padlocks used for LOTO should not be used for other activities in the plant.

FAQ (lock out tag out Steps)

Source – Control of hazardous energy

Wrapping Up

I hope this article on LOTO and the six steps of LOTO safety procedure is helpful for you. If you have any doubts regarding the Osha lockout tagout topic, then feel free to use the comment section. If you have any suggestions for us, please let us know in the comment section.

We had posted detailed guides on industrial safety like Types of fire extinguishers Uses so if you are interested in learning more about industrial safety then do check out our blog. Apart from workplace safety, we also cover chemical engineering articles and explain concepts in detail with an example.